This blog looks back at classic sports telecasts and announcers (primarily from the mid-1960s to present), provides DVR alerts for upcoming classic programming, and covers other historical aspects of sports media.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

I tracked the shots televised by CBS during the final round of the PGA Championship. On the telecast, CBS showed a total of 327 strokes from the Sunday round. CBS came on the air at 2pm ET and the final putt was holed at 7:11 resulting in an average of 1.05 strokes per minute - a decrease over the 1.16 rate from the 2014 PGA.

CBS showed every shot from winner Jason Day and all but one from runner-up Jordan Spieth (skipping only a tap-in par putt on hole 9). CBS focused most of the attention on the final two pairings. Those groupings (which produced the top four finishers) received 68% of the televised strokes. CBS showed 23 golfers playing strokes, but only six got coverage for more than 9 shots. The highest finisher not shown by CBS was Robert Streb (T10).

For comparison, here are the shot charts from the other 2015 events I tracked:

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Murphy also called some regional college football telecasts for ABC with a variety of analysts. Here is a 1982 matchup between Missouri and Nebraska with analyst Tom Gatewood joining Murphy in the booth.

I don't recall ever having the chance to see Murphy announce a football game as my area always seemed to get the primary ABC telecast on regional weeks. So it was a treat to stumble onto this video and hear that great voice once again.

Murphy did have some prior football broadcast experience as he was the radio play-by-play voice for the AFL New York Titans in 1962 and 1963 (the franchise was renamed to the Jets between those seasons). And on a few of those games from the west coast, his booth partner was Kiner.